It was dark. Stars dimly twinkled in the moonlight as the moon slowly rose into the black sky. Below, the Almia Castle, or, rather, the Almic Castle, stood silently over the Hia Valley. Robert lingered at the door, commanding a Vulpix to light the unlit torch. It did so, and the doors shuddered, and slowly creaked open. Robert loaded his Bullet Styler with several clips of ammunition, and stepped into the ice-shrouded hellhole. As he walked through the first lonesome hallway, a badly decayed Haunter, known as a Hellraiser, came out of the pitch-black darkness, blood-red eyes glinting as it raced towards Robert. The Ranger raised his middle finger (Bullet Styler), pointed it at the Hellraiser, and fired. The small golden bullet slid through the ghost's body, spraying a fountain of blood on the floor behind it. The Hellraiser slowed down, dying, and it lurched one last time, only to meet another golden bullet to the eye, spraying out brains and more blood. It fell limp on the floor, twitching, before it finally stopped moving. Robert shook his head at the foolishness of the Dead One, and walked into the dining hall of the Castle. Inside, he could make out three dim shapes, but they weren't Dead Ones. They were members of Team Dim Sun, looking for the Jewel of Lightening, but they were unable to do so, counting that Robert heard "Nope, it's impassable," "Same over here," and "We gotta do something about that block of ice. But what?" Robert quickly stepped forward, pistol drawn, shouting, "Who's there?!" "U-Um, definitely not Dead Ones! Although..." The poor Dim Sun grunt was leapt upon by a Dead One, a Vulpix to be exact, and it began trying to rip out his throat. "HOLY SHI-" Robert swiftly raised his Bullet Styler, and shot the creature between the eyes. The Vulpix was tossed backwards, dying as it slid towards the ice-coated wall, blood trailing after it. "Wh-What the HELL..." "Dead One. The damned things are everywhere. Especially here in Almic Castle. This is the worst infestation the Ranger Union has had to deal with. Come on, we'll team up and find the Jewel of Lightening." "Are you trying to trick us, Ranger?" "If I was, I would have done shot you." "Help us with the block of ice!" Robert raised the Bullet Styler, and fired a bullet covered in flame, piercing the massive berg, and it began to melt quickly, soon leaving behind an empty doorway...but it wasn't empty. There was a Dead One in it. It was a Frosslass. And it was hungry for flesh. Robert raised his Bullet Styler, and aimed at the Frosslass's face as it lurched towards the admin, and it gripped him just as a golden bullet tore into its left eye. Gore splattered on the wall in front of the admin as the Dead One slid off of him, dead before it hit the ground. The admin began to vomit on the blood-soaked floor, and Robert walked over to the sickened Dim Sun admin, and started to pat his back, hoping to get up every last trace of bile. After a few minutes, the man had stopped vomiting, and wiped off his mouth on his uniform sleeve. "Ice is going to give me hell on this one, but all I can say is that I just watched a Dead One get its brains blown out right in front of my eyes." "With any hope, Ice will buy it. We need to keep moving, or Dead Ones will swarm us." "Gotcha."

The halls of Almic Castle's second floor were catacombs of silence as Robert and the three Dim Sun lackeys moved through the darkness. Fortunately, Robert had a torch, which lit up a small area in front of them. A foot tapped down in front of them, heavily rotted. Then a face peeked into the light, and Robert's face lit up with horrified recognition at the undead Ranger...

It had been three days ago, when he had been leading a group of Area Rangers towards Pueltown to patrol. The group consisted of Robert and three Area Rangers. The lesser Rangers' names were Sonia, Davis and Hargrave. That was the day the group had been attacked by Dead Ones. Robert hadn't encountered one then, all he knew was they were some of the most horrifying creatures the world of Pokemon had ever seen. Luckily, there were only three, instead of the massive pack that would usually strike. However, Robert took a wound: He lost his middle finger on his left hand to one of the beasts. Hargrave wasn't so lucky. His face was mauled badly, a good chunk of his right arm had been ripped away, and he was missing a thigh. Blood soaked the grass near Hargrave as the dying Ranger twitched. Somehow, Sonia and Davis hadn't even been SEEN by the beasts. "Anyone know where a hospital is!?" Shouted Robert in fear, afraid that one of his best subordinates, Hargrave, would die. "Yessir," said Davis. "There's one over there in Pueltown. It's not far. Hopefully, Hargrave will make it there." "I hope so..." The next day, in the Pueltown Hospital, Hargrave had been pronounced dead, with the Dead One's virus still spreading through him, unbeknownst to the employees. When they went back into Hargrave's room a couple hours later, they found no trace of the body, and a shattered window. "Damn, he's become one of them..."

All of this rushed back to Robert as he recognized Hargrave from the almost-deadly attack from the Dead Ones. Robert, with a tear in his eye, raised his pistol, and shot Hargrave in the head, killing the Dead One instantly. Hargrave stumbled backwards, hit a wall, and slid down it, blood trailing behind. A regular Golbat saw the blood, sniffed it to see if it was pure, and left Hargrave alone, since the blood was filled with the Dead Ones' disease. Robert laid a sheet over Hargrave, and light it on fire with his torch. The four travelers paid final rites to Hargrave as he burned. The four were soon moving on, into the ice puzzle.

The foursome were getting somewhat tired. They had made it into the room where the two Riolu of legend had been said to have lived. The three Dim Sun members laid down on the ground, allowing Robert the bed. "Why are you doing this?" "We were never treated well. Boss always kicked us grunts around, so we don't deserve it..." "You can have the bed." "You trying to trick us, Ranger?" "If I was, I would have done fallen asleep. Just take it. I've had worse." "T-thanks, Ranger..." "Pfft, no problem."

The next morning, he saw the Admin and a grunt cowering from the other grunt. Robert looked towards the grunt's face to see- He had been infected as they slept. Robert swiftly raised his pistol as the undead Dim Sun grunt looked at it warily. Then, it grinned toothily, and threw a knife at Robert. He grabbed it out of the air, and stabbed the grunt in the chest with it. A waterfall of steaming hot blood rushed out, and splattered Robert's shoes as the grunt struggled to pull away from the knife. Robert quickly cocked his pistol, put it against the side of the grunt's head, and squeezed the trigger- Click. "Dammit! He's sliding right off the knife," roared Robert in frustration at the grunt pulled himself off the knife, and threw a nearby flowerpot at him. Robert sidestepped the pot, and it smashed against the wall, the remains clattering on the floor. Robert raised his Bullet Styler, and used his mind to fire it- Click. "What the hell!?" "Gehehe...I guess...you won't...understand...Ranger...while you three slept...I jammed your weapons..." "Damn you to hell, Dead One!" Robert slashed at the grunt's throat, which it blocked (albeit the grunt's wrist was slashed open), and it lurched at Robert, who slammed his hand into the beast's face. The grunt was sent staggering backwards, and Robert aimed his P99 backup pistol at the grunt's face. "Forgot about this, didn't you?" Robert then fired into the grunt's face, spattering chunks of brain and massive gouts of blood onto the poor admin, who started to retch, and then vomit flooded out the poor man's mouth. Robert began to pat his back again, as the sickened admin continued to gag and vomit. After several seconds, the admin had recovered. "Oh my God...I never want to see that again..." "Well, there are Dead Ones everywhere, so you better expect worse than this bullcrap."

Hmm. Interesting. So, is this a oneshot? It doesn't seem like it, but it seems as though a major plot point goes by in the middle of the first chapter, not to mention the almost complete lack of backstory. I haven't played SoA, but I really doubt that there are bloodthirsty undead and "bullet stylers" (lol); is there a preceding fanfic I should read?